My Neighbor is Gay?

Jesus told a story once, one that was particularly hard for the Jews of the day to hear. The situation was pretty clear and what to do seems clearer. Who among us would ignore the clear need of someone beaten and left for dead on the side of the road? The truth is, it happens all the time in a variety of ways. The difficult reality for the Jews listening to Jesus (it is of no small importance that Jesus was answering a religious scholar) was his choice of a neighbor, a Samaritan! Jews did not associate with Samaritans, and yet this is one that showed mercy and compassion.

Who are the hard to love in the church today? The answer may depend on the culture, the region, the city or town. Unfortunately, far too many of in the church consider our LGBT neighbors as the hard to love or the Samaritan to avoid. Far too many of us would rather LGBT people keep their distance and keep our churches free from their influence.

While many in the church are not showing up for the conversation, there are growing numbers who are asking the right questions. What can we do to show love? How can we demonstrate love without giving up on convictions? Are theological convictions the problem, no matter how sincere? What can we do to change the atmosphere in our churches toward LGBT individuals? These questions occupy much of my thinking and dominate interactions in my vocational context. The questions reveal a hope that the culture war cannot address. There is a desire to understand what is possible in a culture that has now settled the marriage question and is increasingly seeing LGBT persons as equal under the law. What does the egalitarian reality mean for disciples of Christ?

I share the hope displayed by many in the church, and I am committed to helping the body of Christ walk in love going forward. To do so, we must reclaim the word love from it’s current watered down understanding. Love is a difficult doctrine. It calls us, as believers, to engage with the heart, mind, and actions of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. In short, love is best embodied by God and demonstrated through his Son. Christ’s incarnation demonstrates that love is not a just a concept, but it looks a certain way.

When Jesus asked Peter “do you love me,” he was asking for something far more radical from Peter than a superficial, emotional, standardless love. Christ called Peter to sacrifice! Lay it all on the table for my sake and the sake of the kingdom. Christ calls his people to do the same thing!

The Christian call to love leaves no place of refuge for our personal distastes, prejudices, dislikes, or even our preferences. He calls us to see all people as image bearers first, and worthy of dignity, empathy, worth, and respect. Image bearers are equal heirs to the common graces of this life. Only then are we prepared to walk the narrow path of loving sacrifice towards those who are not like us and hold to different patterns of life and worldviews than we do. Sacrifice is not stepping down to the lesser but crossing the street to your neighbor. Sometimes crossing the street is at great cost to self and sometimes that cost is comfort and preference.

We are called to see our LGBT neighbors as those worthy of our dignity, respect, and love. We must love this way, and this means our sacrifice is a necessity. We must sacrifice our hearts to the love Christ requires. We will gain joy, relationship, community and ultimately brothers and sisters. We will gain fellow disciples who, like us, are saying yes to the story God is writing and trusting him with the narrative of our life.

The time has come for willing followers of Christ to love and sacrifice in any way necessary, short of sin to see our neighbors live into the identity of Christ and his resurrection life!

LGBT persons are our neighbors, our friends, our family, and in many cases our brothers and sisters. It starts with understanding and compassion. Get to know your LGBT neighbor, engage with a heart of compassion lacking an agenda and watch Christ do powerful things. Intentionality is easier and more simple than you think.